Larry Bird, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, was once known as the “Hick from French Lick” and is counted as an Indiana basketball icon. From his early days playing for Springs Valley High School, to his time leading the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores to the National Championship Game, to his 12 all-star appearances and 3 Championships in the NBA, to NBA Coach of the Year and NBA Executive of the Year, Bird has known success in everything he has attempted. And though he is known locally as “Larry Legend”, he is as loved in Boston, home of the Celtics NBA team, as he is in his home state. It was the continuous requests from Celtics fans that moved artist Jules Muck to create this mural during an informal artist’s residency in the summer of 2019.
The mural, which derived from a photograph of Bird that appeared in a 1977 Sports Illustrated story, originally sported a number of drawn-on tattoos relating to his life and career, but at Bird’s request the artist removed all of them except the one stating “Indiana” in flowing script. Bird had indicated that although he liked the mural and had no objection to tattoos on other people, he didn’t want people to think he had tattoos in real life. His request to remove the tattoos was somewhat controversial, with some commenters stating that he didn’t understand that it was an artistic intepretation and others supporting his decision to maintain control over his own image.
Jules Muck, aka MuckRock, is a street artist from England who learned her craft in the 1990s from Lady Pink and many other legends of graffiti and hip-hop culture. After working extensively in New York, she moved to Venice, California in 2008. She currently works nationally and internationally, with major works in various locations including Miami’s famous Wynwood district, produced with Art Basel Miami. MuckRock’s street works are both invited and unsanctioned, and she has created work for gallery exhibitions.

The sculptures are constructed from vintage suitcases that were molded and cast in bronze. The sculptures are installed in the baggage claim area of the airport and function as seating. A miniature world of little people are integrated into each of the pieces, creating dioramas of passengers and pedstrians involved in landscape of travel related activities.
"Baggage Claim" was chosen by Art in America as one of the Best Public Sculptures in 2008.
Quoted from www.ronbaron.net

Lilly Oncology on Canvas (LOOC) has provided individuals affected by cancer with an opportunity to share their stories through art and narrative. Since its founding in 2004, in partnership with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, thousands of LOOC participants have been inspired to share their journey with countless others. For more information, visit http://www.lillyoncology.com/support-resources/lilly-oncology-on-canvas.html
The artist chose to show cancer as a balancing act between mind and body. The artist is now cancer-free, but informs the viewer that the balancing doesn’t stop once one is free of cancer. Each CAT scan, twitch of pain, or thought can put a survivor out of balance but they just have to remember to rebalance themselves after doubt pulls them down.
(photo courtesy of Ken Norris)

The artist of this mural was inspired by the hot air balloons that can be seen hovering over Fishers, courtesy of nearly Conner Prairie. Balloon Ride is his take on this iconic sight. A tiny mouse rides as a passenger in each balloon–motorists miss this detail, but it is a special reward for pedestrians.
Mark Anderson is a sculptor and mural artist based in Indianapolis.
Balloon Ride is one of a series of traffic control box artworks commissioned by the City of Fishers to enliven its downtown area.

This mural was created after nearby Square Cat Vinyl issued an open call for murals relating to its 2019 Backalley Ballyhoo psychedelic music and art festival. The theme of “science fiction” was amply addressed by a number of artists, including this whimsical (and improbable!) composition of a spaceman holding a balloon.
Indianapolis-based artist Joy Hernandez specializes in simple, quirky illustrations and favors robots, spacemen, and other fantastic creatures.

This mural appropriates the iconic 1942 Disney image of Bambi and Thumper, but switches the characters’ antlers and horns. The artist’s signature is in a small cloud seeming to emanate from the Bambi figure’s rear end. The artist’s Instagram page comments, “@beholderindy mural got a PG rating this year … looks can be deceiving,” referring to a previous mural she had created on the same wall in October 2018: that mural depicted a pair of amorous bunnies and was so controversial that it lasted a mere 24 hours before it was painted out by the building owner. The current mural was created during an informal artist’s residency in Indianapolis in the summer of 2019.
Jules Muck, aka MuckRock, is a street artist from England who learned her craft in the 1990s from Lady Pink and many other legends of graffiti and hip-hop culture. After working extensively in New York, she moved to Venice, California in 2008. She currently works nationally and internationally, with major works in various locations including Miami’s famous Wynwood district, produced with Art Basel Miami. MuckRock’s street works are both invited and unsanctioned, and she has created work for gallery exhibitions.

Barrow consists of a molded fiberglass hemisphere with two entry ways. These entry ways are identical rectangular shapes with rounded edges. They are located directly opposite one another, with one located at the sculpture’s proper front and the other at its proper back. The fiberglass is molded so that it forms a double wall around an encased sheet of metal meshing. The wall of the fiberglass that is seen from within the sculpture has been allowed to develop darkly, while the outside is light and shiny. The double wall of fiberglass occupies mass, but also contains space. This alters the viewers a changing perception of light and color.
From the outside, the fiberglass has been molded so that the thin vertical ridges begin at the bottom of one side, ascend framing the entry ways, and descend down the other side. These strips continue over the dome, and frame the entry way on the opposite side. The metal meshing gives the fiberglass an interesting visual effect of texture, within being able to feel it.
The sculpture sits on a square concrete base at a 45 degree angle. Once inside the sculpture, there is a rubber mat on the base to allow viewers to move within the space safely. Upon entering the sculpture, one is inclined to look up at its ceiling. There is a bullseye shaped pattern consisting of a thin red outline, surrounding a large blue circle. Within the blue circle is a smaller red outline surrounding a much smaller yellow circle.
Barrow was commissioned for IUPUI in 2007. The sculpture was installed at the Herron School of Art on Wednesday, May 7, at noon. Barrow will remain on display for two years. Barrow was inspired by Viney’s visits to caves and burial mounds in Ireland and France. The word barrow means a prehistoric burial mound used by Celtic people of France, England, Scotland, and Ireland. Viney’s inspiration for the ceiling of Barrow came from her experience in an actual barrow in Ireland. While inside the mound’s central rounded space, a beam of light came streaming in through a slot in the ceiling. These slots were used to chart the solstices, and the paths of the sun and moon. The space also had empty niches in the walls, resembling the entry ways in Barrow.
While visiting the Peche Merle Cave in France along the Dordogne River, Viney discovered a cave with paintings and images lining the walls. The artists had crushed red oxide rock into a powder, and then blown it around their hands, leaving a negative imprint on the wall. The thumb and forefinger were touching, leaving behind a repeated circle pattern along the walls of the cave. This is red pattern is the influence for the red in Viney’s patterned ceiling of Barrow.
Jill Viney was born in a coastal town in California. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Sarah Lawrence College, and her Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia University. Viney has used a quotation from Albert Einstein in her artist statement: "Look, look deep into nature and you will understand everything better." She is very interested in how advancements in technology allow us to see deeper into spaces that would otherwise be unseen. She alters the viewer’s perceptions of light, space, and color.

Barth Avenue Bench was created as a seating area for visitors using the Pleasant Run Trail. It was constructed from elements of the old Barth Avenue car bridge, which was removed and reconstructed in 2015 as a pedestrian-only bridge to allow more people to safely access both sides of the Pleasant Run waterway.
Indianapolis-based artist Brian McCutcheon designed the sculptural bench; it was fabricated by Indianapolis Fabrications (iFab). McCutcheon works in video, pho­tog­ra­phy, and sculp­ture. He has been the recip­i­ent of a num­ber of artist grants, awards, and res­i­den­cies, includ­ing a 2010-11 Pollock-Krasner Foun­da­tion grant and a sum­mer 2009 res­i­dency at Sculp­ture Space in Utica, New York. Since 2006, his work has been fea­tured in a wide range of exhi­bi­tions on a national and inter­na­tional scale. More about the artist can be found at http://brianmccutcheon.com/
Improving the area around the Barth Avenue Bridge is a project of Reconnecting To Our Waterways, a collective impact initiative to enrich the livability of Indianapolis and the well-being of residents by generating new and sustainable opportunities to learn about and experience art, nature, and beauty along targeted natural waterways and the neighborhoods around them. More information about the project can be found here: http://reconnectingtoourwaterways.org/barth-avenue-bridge-project/

Located in the bistro area of the Greenwood/Bargersville Kroger supermarket, Battle of the Bands was designed by Andy Fry and painted by volunteers from the Greenwood and Bargersville communities. The mural was inspired by the importance of their marching bands to Greenwood Community High School and Center Grove High School: their awards records generate school pride and performances show off individual and group talent, and their musicianship is unquestioned. More importantly, though, the marching bands and color guards embody crucial values like persistence, teamwork, discipline, camaraderie, and tradition. One has only to visit Johnson County to recognize how important those values are to maintaining its fine community spirit.
Big Car Collaborative is an Indianapolis-based nonprofit arts organization and collective of artists that focuses on creative placemaking and socially engaged art. Their mission is to “bring art to people and people to art, sparking creativity in lives to help communities thrive.” Among their many activities are projects that enable people to make art together, whether in the civic commons, in community spaces, or through their own facilities. Big Car was started in 2004 and currently works out of the Tube Factory Artspace in Indianapolis’ Garfield Park neighborhood. Read more about their work at http://www.bigcar.org

Beacon Bloom is a roundabout sculpture created for The City of Carmel. Residing at Westfield Boulevard and 96th Street, viewers approaching and passing the roundabout see three steel flower-like structures with curvy stems. They face south, northeast, and northwest. The composition is raised well above the roundabout, making it easily visible to motorists; the tallest is more than thirty feet high. As viewers circle the form, its flowers’ undulating stems seem to make the sculpture come alive. At night the structure displays a delicate, multi-colored play of lights reflected in the undersides of the seven hundred and sixty eight stainless steel florets, which form the three flowers.
The sculpture serves as a beacon, signaling the presence of the roundabout not with a warning, but with a welcoming expression of hope and growth. It also marks an important entrance to the city. The whole piece looks like a subtle firework display, a moment frozen in time. Inspired by the artist’s ongoing study of plant forms, this sculpture continues his work exploring light and form in public art.
Atop each stem is a tilted twelve-foot wide domed flower. The flowers are comprised of sixteen stainless steel clusters on curved cluster arms. Each similarly domed cluster is two feet wide and contains sixteen florets, endless laser-cut three lobed loops of folded stainless steel strip. Inside each floret a space age coated dichroic glass lens covers an LED light source so that by night each is bathed in subtly changing colored light. The seven hundred and sixty eight florets together use only 135 watts of electricity.
“I am very grateful to the City of Carmel for the opportunity to create a major artwork for one of their roundabouts. I wanted the sculpture to be a beautiful marker; a beacon of light that not only signals the roundabout but also celebrates the city. It was a privilege working with Smock Fansler Corporation, who constructed the base for the sculpture, and with bo-mar industries whose experience, skills, and creative problem solving once again made them the ideal fabricators of my work.” -Arlon Bayless

Given the opportunity to paint whatever she liked on the wall of this Jiffy Lube store, the artist chose to depict the importance of bees and their drastic drop in population because of herbicides, pesticides, deforestation, and urbanization. When bees are gone, everything in the world, including humans, will cease to exist. True to her style, the artist depicted an illusion of the wall breaking open to reveal a honeycomb, with several bees in various states of maturity flying out from it. The final “bee” is a baby in a bee costume holding a heart balloon, to indicate the importance of bees to human life. The bees appear to be flying towards a giant sunflower, with a world globe in its center.
Although not apparent to the casual viewer, the artist also added several details that ground the mural in the time (summer 2019) and place it was painted and reflect her personal concerns. A careful look at the globe in the sunflower reveals red and orange areas in the depiction of South America, to indicate fires in the Amazon rainforest that were in the news at the time. There is also a tiny hurricane in the Caribbean–indicating Hurricane Dorian, which was just forming at the time and was projected to be one of the most devastating hurricanes in recent memory–and a dot indicating Indianapolis. The baby was created to be of an indeterminate race, and the pattern in the wings of the baby’s bee costume is reminiscent of the chain link fences that controversially characterize conditions in immigrant holding camps along the U.S.’s southern border, also in the news while the mural was being created. All together, they reveal an artist who is passionately devoted to the health of the world and moved by crises that are damaging to humanity.
Pamela Bliss is an Indianapolis-based artist specializing in large-scale, photorealistic murals.
Bee Mindful… was created through a partnership between Jiffy Lube of Indiana and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. The partnership is an opportunity to showcase local artists, beautify commercial corridors with original public art murals, and encourage viewers through positive images while expressing the goals of Jiffy Lube’s programming: Growing People Through Work.

Bench Around the Lake is a series of 15 vivid yellow benches that interact with specific sites within 100 Acres and along the bordering bank of the White River. Hein envisions the installation as one long bench that emerges from the ground, twists, turns and submerges again, forming a circuit around the Park’s 35-acre lake. The work challenges the assumption that a bench is made for passive sitting, encouraging visitors to explore less frequented areas of the Park and providing opportunities to sit, look, listen, interact and play.
Quoted from: www.imamuseum.org/visit/100acres/artworks-projects/bench-around-lake

Located along the southern boundary of University Park, this sculpture is a full-length portrait of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States and an Indiana native. He is shown with his right hand raised in a gesture of speech. The exedra, a semicircular portico with seats located behind the sculpture, was designed by Bacon. The sculpture is a memorial to Harrison, the “faith he taught” and his “industry, fidelity, courage, sound statesmanship, and justice through the law.” The monument was erected by Indianapolis citizens and dedicated in 1908. Manufactured by Gorham Manufacturing Company (foundry). Dedicated October 27, 1908.
Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Harrison_(sculpture)

Being in a community can mean so many things: from joy and triumph to hardships and challenges. This mural illustrates and celebrates the quirkiness and successes that can be experienced when a community comes together to collaborate on a common goal.
Funding for Vibrant Corridors, a city-wide effort to create murals in key underpasses and gateways around downtown Indianapolis, is provided in part by the Lilly Foundation and the Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and Downtown Indy.
This mural was completed during the 2014 Lilly Global Day of Service with the help of more than 200 Lilly Employees.

Artist Brian Priest’s interest in the areas of natural phenomena and interdisciplinary science have resulted in varied artworks comprised of sound, sculpture, performance and drawing. Often, the artist’s own body is both site and source of his work.
His prior piece Body Zoo resulted from the artist collecting samples of microscopic bacteria from different areas on his body to create a “micro zoo”. Images from Body Zoo were incorporated into Between Two Mirrors. Pictures of bacteria and mold were converted into texture maps to create an image which is both grotesque, compelling, and oddly beautiful. The image is a cluster of unlikely combinations of familiar elements, which exists somewhere between a clinical study, horror movie and architectural model.
Priest shows the human body as a structure that both navigates and contains landscape. Just as billions of humans inhabit the Earth, billions of small creatures thrive on and within us. It is life at different scales.

The artist duo of Emily Kennerk and Jennifer Riley, who had been working together on a series of artworks entitled Big Bright Steel, was commissioned to create an installation for the Market Street window of the Cummins Global Distribution Headquarters. The work is composed of a mural painting and brightly powder-coated steel remnants harvested from a Cummins manufacturing partner, Noblitt Fabricators of Columbus, Indiana. Instead of becoming scrap, the steel plates have been reclaimed, repurposed, and used as sculptural material by the artists in an installation that abstractly references Cummins’s global network and its commitment to sustainability, the environment, and its partners in manufacturing and distribution.
Emily Kennerk is a sculptor and installation artist based in Central Indiana. Read more about her work at http://www.emilykennerk.com/
Jennifer Riley is a painter who splits her time between Columbus, Indiana and Brooklyn, New York. Read more about her work at http://jenniferriley.net/index.html
Cummins designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies. Their Global Distribution Headquarters, designed by Deborah Berke Partners of Chicago, opened in 2016 after more than three years in the making. The Indianapolis facility and its commissioned artwork extend the Fortune 200 company’s long history of blending unique architectural style with the needs of employees, customers and visitors, and incorporating design excellence into the communities in which it operates.

Located in Esch Hall, opposite Quit Whining, stands Big Red Prop Flower, a composite of found objects altered and painted. This sculpture by Jennifer Meyer, Lansing, Illinois, was inspired by ecological and environmental concerns. The collection and assemblage of these found objects that were once discarded is her attempt “to clean up the planet.”
Quoted from: www.uindy.edu/arts/big-red-prop-flower

Artist Marc Anderson is fascinated with transportation, and was inspired by this site to create a design featuring a bicycle in silhouette. Its simple pattern of vibrant pink and deep black zig-zags contrasts nicely with the outline of a bicycle in white. The artist injects his sense of humor into all his work, and has included a special surprise at the front of the bike between the wheel and the handlebars. Motorists miss it, but it is a reward he has created for pedestrians and, of course, bicyclists.
Marc Anderson is an Indianapolis-based sculptor and mural artist.
Bike Ride is one of a series of traffic signal control box artworks commissioned by the City of Fishers to enliven its downtown area.

Visiting Canada geese are a feature of Fishers, and artist William Denton Ray has taken his signature whimsical, graphic style and applied it to the subject. Using a very controlled color palette, he has stripped the birds’ elements to basic shapes to form an almost abstract design.
Birds is one of a series of traffic signal control box murals commissioned by the City of Fishers to enliven its downtown.
William Denton Ray is an artist based in Indianapolis.

The decorative elements in this mural reference an era in the history of the surrounding neighborhood. These 19th century ornamental motifs draw from Jacobean revival imagery and feature inventive, scrolling plant shapes which suggest a process of transformation. Such artistic innovations connect us at an intimate level, across cultures and through time. Birth of Mirth celebrates this connection.
Funding for Vibrant Corridors, a city-wide effort to create murals in key underpasses and gateways around downtown Indianapolis, is provided in part by the Lilly Foundation and the Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and Downtown Indy.
This mural was completed during the 2014 Lilly Global Day of Service with the help of more than 200 Lilly Employees.

This graffiti piece, a portrait of the celebrity Björk, is part of a body of work that makes up one of the few sanctioned graffiti areas left in Indianapolis, IN. The alleyway just east of Virginia Avenue in Fountain Square stands as a testament to the talent of the young, aspiring graffiti community as well as the more well-known graffiti writers in the area. Constantly changing, this living alleyway represents the very nature of the art form and the state of graffiti in Indianapolis.
Björk (born November 21, 1965) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, producer, DJ, and actress. Over her four-decade career, she has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a wide range of influences and genres spanning electronic, pop, experimental, classical, trip hop, IDM, and avant-garde styles. Björk’s music has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny. Critics often agree that she constantly defies categorization in a musical genre.

Black Titan is artist John Spaulding’s homage to the power and dignity of African men. An African American man himself, Spaulding wanted to give inspiration to others who might need a positive depiction of themselves.
John Spaulding (1942-2004), an Indianapolis native, worked in the aerospace industry in California before turning his welding skills to art when the industry collapsed in 1970s. His sculptures are drawn from nature (including trees, foliage, giant fish and butterflies) and from man (African warriors, masks and musicians) as well as large abstracts. More of Spaulding’s work can be seen in Indianapolis outside Lockefield Gardens and at the corner of Indiana Avenue and West Street. Read more about the artist at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spaulding_(artist)

Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) is an effort by local artists to highlight the Pogue’s Run Waterway in Brookside Park. The Paramount Rest Stop is one of three sites along Pogue’s Run funded through ROW. Led by artist Eric Nordgulen, students from Herron School of Art and Design, a team of professional artists, and local residents and stakeholders collaborated on the design and implementation of public art installations centered on waterway issues and inspirations.
Blocks is an installation by Emily Stergar. These twenty-four cast blocks originate from water and are made of earth that was dredged from the White River. Their varied texture and size embody the fluidity of shape when water interacts with earth. This piece allows participants to stop, rest, and reflect on the nearby waterway. The direction of this installation, which starts at the top of the hill and continues downhill, points towards the water’s edge.
Quoted from http://www.indianacharterschool.com/dredgebuilding-blocks.html

This mural features Debbie Harry, the lead singer of the punk/new wave band Blondie (1974-82), and is located in the alley behind Indy CD and Vinyl to attract music fans. It was painted during an informal artist residency in Indianapolis in the summer of 2019.
Jules Muck, aka MuckRock, is a street artist from England who learned her craft in the 1990s from Lady Pink and many other legends of graffiti and hip-hop culture. After working extensively in New York, she moved to Venice, California in 2008. She currently works nationally and internationally, with major works in various locations including Miami’s famous Wynwood district, produced with Art Basel Miami. MuckRock’s street works are both invited and unsanctioned, and she has created work for gallery exhibitions.

The lotus leaf is a symbol of cleansing and purity. In Asia, it thrives in silty ponds. In the Song Dynasty, a writer from China used this plant to describe the relationship between people and the environment: “Live in the silt but be not imbued”. It means people should maintain their own good will and morality no matter what circumstances they encounter.
For the site near Harding Street, the spectators will experience a wave of lotus leaves. There will be various arrangements. Some leaves will be grouped. Some leaves will stand alone. Some will be scattered around. The washed color lotus leaves will sooth each viewer and release tension on the busy highway. When people drive by the lotus leaves, the effect will make drivers calm. Some thoughts may come to their minds such as “it will not be the end of the world if I am late by 5 minutes.”
When drivers encounter the landscape of lotus leaves, they won’t see the actual lotus blooms because I wish the lotus blooms to imaginatively appear in their minds. My art invites the audience to collaborate with me. Together we will create a tie between Mother Earth and her people. The lotus leaves will trigger memories of peaceful gardens and a return to the comforting embrace of loved ones.
There are 14 lotus leaves. Three different sizes of lotus leaves are mixed and scattered in the area. The sizes are approximately 12’W´3.5’D´5.5’H, 10’W´2.5’D´ 5H’ and 6’W´1.5’D´4.5’H.
Quoted from shifenliu.wordpress.com/public-art/

Handel’s Ice Cream off of 116th Street in Fishers features an 18-foot high mural by Indiana artist Craig Martin, commissioned by the City of Fishers and the Fishers Arts Council. Blue Rose Junction is a large mural depicting a blue rose with ribbons of reds, oranges, whites, and other colors coming into the rose itself.
The mural is an abstract look at the community coming together to gather at Handel’s, a Fishers area business who commissioned Martin for the piece. Blue Rose Junction was described by Martin as his attempt to “find a way, through color and line, to bring together threads of the community and gathering.”
Martin’s public murals have also been showcased in five Lafayette locations. This mural, unveiled on June 8th, 2018, is his celebration of community while highlighting the multilayered nature of it. The expressive and visually open rose, with its many layers, brings in the ribbons, or different threads of community, to one singular place which is a greater than its sum.

Artist Tosca Carranza was commissioned by Near East Area Renewal to paint five traffic signal control boxes along Rural Street, in a series called “I Love My Neighborhood.” The design for this box represents happiness: the bluebird’s bright color and energetic behavior have been associated with happiness since ancient times in cultures around the globe, popularized in this country in a 1934 song called the ‘Bluebird of Happiness.’
Tosca Carranza is a painter and art educator who lives on Indianapolis’ Near Eastside.

In late 2018, artist Austin Falls (aka IndyDroids) painted this pizza-loving robot on a concrete divider on the east side of Greek’s Pizzeria restaurant on 16th Street and Columbia Avenue. The mural is one of several public artworks Greek’s has installed on their premises.

SUBMIT A LISTING

ABOUT US

INDY ARTS GUIDE

Discover new arts events, creative opportunities, and cultural experiences, and explore Indy’s vibrant arts scene all in one place. Indy Arts Guide is the most comprehensive online resource for the arts in Indianapolis.

Disclaimer: The Arts Council of Indianapolis provides this database and website as a service to artists, arts organizations, and consumers alike. All information contained within the database and website was provided by the artists or arts organizations. No adjudication or selection process was used to develop this site or the artists and organizations featured. While the Arts Council of Indianapolis makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information on this site, it does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or correct sequencing of such information.